Penny’s Plan

So, it turns out the survey on how to spend COVID-19 stimulus funds — the one claiming to seek “stakeholder” feedback — was all window dressing. As some suspected, Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn already has a plan. In fact, it’s all explained right here in Education Week.

In Tennessee, our member and future chief alum, Penny Schwinn, understands that making up for lost time will be a multiyear effort that starts immediately. Her three-year learning plan—which should be a model for other states—retools the school year calendar with a mix of in-person and online learning, including a surge of 20 days of learning over the summer, to make up for lost days. She is revisiting every element of her strategic plan to align with the needs for quality learning at a distance, for a more robust digital infrastructure, and for frequent checks to ensure students and adults are handling these enormous shifts emotionally as well as academically. She is working on plans now to develop her own statewide online tool that will provide a system for teachers to deliver content and remediation for small groups, participate in virtual professional development, and provide resources for families, including information on meal locations. Her plan to retool time to support a coherent long-term, three-year academic plan for the students of Tennessee is bold and visionary. 

UPDATE

While the Education Week article has been changed to reflect a more nuanced version of Schwinn’s response, there is a screenshot that still holds the original version as quoted above.

And, Williamson County School Board member Eric Welch is all over the changes with a series of key questions on Twitter:

So, Commissioner Schwinn has a “bold and visionary” plan she has yet to share with policymakers or parents or teachers. It includes a “surge” of summer learning. 20 days, to be specific.

It’d be nice if everyone else in the state could be clued-in to this “coherent, long-term, three-year academic plan.”

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

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28 thoughts on “Penny’s Plan

  1. 90% of the current school year’s standards have been taught. As an educator and a parent the force to internet learning has not been ineffective to date. Until a time has been reached when all students have equal access and all educators are educated as to implementation, the use of internet learning will be fruitless.

    • I would think that this would be accompanied by a very substantial raise for all teachers to include ALL JRROTC instructors within the state. Also I would think it should count X2 towards teachers retirement. I also believe vacation/ personnel days x3. Also all Extra learning be removed from expectations currently mandated. It is apparent this has not been thought through with the good of the teacher mentality but as usual all political for personnel political gain.

  2. I do not feel this would be a good idea. Several children in the state of Tennessee do not have access to internet. My grandchildren fall in that category. All the standards have been taught. So i feel that students should be provided resource for review. I see no reason for them to make up this time out of school.

  3. This sounds good on paper, but the truth is that any distance learning will be inequitable. Most of our students do not have the technology to join in to any of this.

    • 90% of the current school year’s standards have been taught. As a parent I can tell you that internet learning has not been ineffective. My children have been on doing Zoom classes and participating in classroom learning still. This is absurd and I do not believe that kids and teachers that are still working hard to complete work and assignments and still taking test should have part of their summer taken away.

  4. I feel this is a slap in the face to teachers. She obviously does not care about the students or their families. Some have lost loved ones others have had the virus. Many have lost jobs. These students need a summer to recuperate from the stress they have been under. I heard her talk last summer , now I know it was all a bunch of bull. She is just like Bill lee.

  5. When this is over, we need to continue on as normal. The children need a normal summer and a normal start to the school year. This will help to get them emotionally back on track and then they will be better ready to deal with the academics.
    I am speaking as a parent and an educator.

  6. This is a ridiculous plan. The students have covered all academic standards. All that was left was tvass review and weeks of state testing. The 180 day was waived by the government so no need for a plan. Let us just start fresh next school year.

    • Not all standards have been covered by all students. Don’t forget about high schools that teach block schedule. We only got 9 weeks of spring semester. Our kids only got through half. And others with two 9 week courses missed the second one altogether. There’s much more to this. Elementary students may be 90% but those aren’t the only kids we need to worry about. I am a high school teacher and a parent of a junior

  7. Are they going to pay school staff for the extra 20 days? They are working now, and their contracts are normally for 200 days. Adding to that would also add to the pay that teachers would make (I grant most people would not work for free).

  8. This is a huge slap in the face!! I need for her and Gov. Lee to move on. I am so disappointed in their leadership. We live in a rural area that does not get good internet. My kids do the packets that were sent home and read. She is a joke!

    • Let’s make sure that this 3-year learning plan
      1. is truly equitable by including print resources (real textbooks!) for students who have no access to technology or internet
      2. accounts for the fact that some students have zero home support for learning
      3. strongly encourages continued learning with compassion
      4. ensures/ provides “across the board! TN districts” extra school time/remediation (summer school statewide!) ONLY for students who do not show academic proficiency measured through a combination of 2018-2019 testing performance and 2019-2020 grade performance (plus subsequent years in the 3-year plan)…
      5. provides resources for counselors and possibly extra funds for extra counselors to address the intensified emotional needs of many students who will face trauma during this time.

  9. Leave these kids alone this summer and let them AND their parents AND their teachers decompress and rest. We are all stressed. Many parents, such as myself, are working front lines on this pandemic, then trying to help their children when they come home. Teachers have been relentlessly working to give our children the best that they can. Most standards are met. Let us ALL start fresh next year. Leave our summer alone.

  10. We have been doing online learning for students with the technology to do so and packets for those who do not. We have been working during the entire closure! This plan is going to frustrate students and parents, not to mention infuriate and further alienate the teachers.

  11. This is a ridiculous plan! Most all academic standards have been taught, and when students begin the school year the first several weeks are used for review. The state has already waived the 180 day school year and teachers and students are still working! The students should have a normal summer and begin their new school year like normal!

  12. Are you crazy? You may not have anything better to do than sit around making stupid suggestions but let me be clear, teachers are working their butts off with on line zoom lessons.

  13. Let’s make sure that this 3-year learning plan
    1. is truly equitable by including print resources (real textbooks!) for students who have no access to technology or internet
    2. accounts for the fact that some students have zero home support for learning
    3. strongly encourages continued learning with compassion 4. ensures/ provides “across the board! TN districts” extra school time/remediation (summer school ststewide!) ONLY for students who do not show academic proficiency measured through a combination of 2018-2019 testing performance and 2019-2020 grade performance (plus subsequent years in the 3-year plan)…
    5. Provides resources for counselors and possibly extra funds for extra counselors to address the intensified emotional needs of many students who will face trauma during this time.

  14. This is beyond ridiculous. As a parent and an educator, I can assure you that learning is still happening. We are doing online for those who can and packets for those who can’t. We have given our personal phone numbers to students to help tutor them. We are working just as hard, if not harder, to provide for our students during this time. Our students, our parent and community stakeholders and our faculties are stressed as we try to make a new normal during this pandemic. We need the summer to decompress and hopefully re-adjust to life. Please do not make things harder on our students. And finally… Do not send me any more of your surveys if my voice will not be heard.

  15. I can promise you that this plan will not be supported by teachers and parents. When we left school, we had already covered almost all standards and were ready to begin the review and taking of state tests when returned from spring break. Unless you are in the trenches you have no idea what an arduous task that is. Since those tests have been waived, we should be able to assess in the fall and fill in gaps IF any students show that they have a deficit. WHO is truly able to say that all students will be behind??? Teachers are professionals and experts on this topic and do this all the time ….everyday in fact. Teachers and students have already put in days of work and will continue to do so. Families are struggling daily with emotional issues brought about by isolation and lack of knowing what tomorrow will bring. We all need NORMALCY as soon as possible, not an innovative new plan that will add more uncertainty and unchartered waters for the students, teachers, and parents to have to trudge through! Return us to normal as soon as possible and let us do what we were trained to do.

  16. This is absolutely ridiculous!These kids have continued to learn over this entire closure. Online & completing packets of work.I might understand them doing a extra 20 days if they hadn’t been doing distance learning this whole time. Call it a year & let these kids have their summer. They have lost enough already!!

  17. Let the students as well as parents and teachers etc just get through this covid mess. It’s a shock and a big change for everyone. By this time of the year the students have just about learned what they are going to and are reviewing for tests that in my option should not count against the teacher or students. Give them a break. They will be fine. It’s nit any different than if we had been out for a huge snow which to my understanding happened way back in the 70’s I think. Whenever it was they were out for over a month I know. They turned out fine. Let us all just get through this without more stress and pressure. Let the kids have a prom and a graduation

  18. All that was left after Spring Break was 24 days before the TCAP Test. Those 24 days were to mostly review for a test that is now canceled and didn’t even count as a grade for students where I work. Anyone that teaches knows that after TCAP is taken each day students have a lot of downtime, review time, recess, etc. so as to not burn them out. So 10 day of TCAP testing that is cancelled. After the test would be 9 and 1/2 days of Field Trips, Award Days, End of Year other stuff. Really with kids doing packets and online work and with the test cancelled it is ridiculous to put anyone through more hell.

  19. This information is incorrect. THe information from the TEA president states that Ms. Schwinn has no jurasdiction to mandate this. Please let us know where your source of information was. It is incorrect.

    • The article in education week indicates Penny’s Plan … there are screenshots. While it may not be a mandate, she may well have a “summer surge” plan. However, I will point out the source for the claim is in the article. I’d urge you to continue to watch what the DOE proposes/does going forward. Even the survey (also linked in the article) originally indicated a desire to have summer school. I have (and always) link to and provide information on the sources – in this case, Education Week. Thanks for reading!

  20. Pingback: The Plan – Tennessee Education Report

  21. Pingback: Explainer – Tennessee Education Report

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